


Loyalty

by prettydamnlame



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-31
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-12-09 08:21:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11665269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prettydamnlame/pseuds/prettydamnlame
Summary: Josh's loyalty is what Tyler counts on every time he sits down at the piano.





	Loyalty

Josh’s feet were propped up, adjacent to the fire pit. He and Tyler had spent all afternoon gathering kindling for the blaze merrily burning away inside it.

There was something about his best friend’s enthusiasm to show the drummer every inch of his and Jenna’s new property that was infectious. The two men had spent essentially all day outside in the bleak Ohio sunshine, traipsing around in the woods, calling each others’ attention to anything and everything – a gnarled tree, a birds’ nest, an ant hill.

Jenna had teased that she’d thought they’d gotten lost when they didn’t come back to the house for lunch, and insisted they have something when they finally turned up, even though it was so close to barbeque time. Now, as the drummer glanced over at Jenna hovering dutifully around Tyler as he tended to the grill, he felt a deep sigh build within him.

It wasn’t a sad sigh, exactly. It was nostalgic. How long had it been since their lives had been this simple? Just spending time together outside, having a meal together? He honestly couldn’t remember.

A memory wormed its way into the front of Josh’s mind.

 

 

 

> _Tyler’s beside him on the couch._
> 
> _It’s that sunken, threadbare couch from Tyler’s sharehouse from years and years ago – the one where they would search in between the cushions for loose change when they wanted McDonald’s so badly but they had no money._
> 
> _The television’s on, and both their feet are resting on the banged up coffee table._
> 
> _Josh feels a small huff from Tyler and realises the brown-haired boy is leaning right against him._
> 
> _“It’ll just be you and me, one day,” the singer said in quiet voice. “We’ll be going everywhere. Seeing everything.”_
> 
> _“We’ll have crew,” Josh replied dumbly, not realising what his best friend had been saying at the time. “We’ll have Mark, and Brad and everyone. We won’t have to do it alone.”_
> 
> _Tyler’s brown hair prickled against Josh’s bare arm as he angled his face up to his friend’s._
> 
> _“You’re my best friend, Josh,” he had said solemnly. “You’re my partner in this. It’ll be up to the both of us to hold this thing together, because I won’t be able to do it on my own once we’re out there.”_
> 
> _There was a pause from the singer and Josh felt a curious bloom of knowing inside his stomach, understanding suddenly what Tyler was attempting to tell him._
> 
> _“The most - ” Tyler, usually so eloquent, had stammered a little as he went on. “The most powerful thing I can do is trust someone with this, and I trust_ **you** _with this, Josh. I trust you now, and I promise I’ll trust you when we’re out there, one day.”_
> 
> _The drummer nodded slowly, wracking his brain for exactly what to say to assure Tyler he would rather_ **cut off his own hands** _then let him down, ever._
> 
> _Tyler was never bothered by the lapses in conversation between them, accustomed to having to give Josh some time to process the often cryptic things he came out with._
> 
> _The drummer remembered with complete clarity what he had said, sitting on that couch, when all of this was still ‘one day' - and he knew he would say it again, and again, over and over, for the rest of his life if he needed to._
> 
> _If Tyler needed to hear it, he would say it, every damn day._
> 
> _“Tyler, I know you trust me with this, and I’m so grateful that you do. I don’t have anything to give you other than_ **my complete loyalty** _, and I promise you that you will always have it.”_
> 
> _The singer’s brown eyes had fluttered back down to his own hands, resting intertwined in his lap, pleased and slightly overwhelmed by this declaration of fealty._
> 
> _“I’m glad. Your loyalty is what I count on every time I sit down at the piano.”_

 

Josh jerked back to reality as a plate loaded with barbeque was placed in front of him with a slight clatter. Jenna was clamouring at her husband: “Ty, let Josh fill his own plate! You don’t know what he might want!”

A wide grin split Josh’s face as he watched his best friend wave a hand in the air at his wife airily.

“I know what he wants, babe. What’s that phrase? _I’d know him at the end of the world_.”

“Yeah, an’ we’ve been through that a few times already, right?” Josh reached out and pulled the plate toward him, sticking his tongue out at this best friend as he did so.

He knew he didn’t have to declare anything to Tyler anymore; he hadn’t needed to for a very long time. It was all unspoken now; the loyalty that bound them was as obvious as the skin on their hands and the hair on their heads. 

And it was unbreakable.


End file.
